No port in storm for retired cutter

State sinks proposal to dock retired ship in namesake city.

State sinks proposal to dock retired ship in namesake city.

June 06, 2006

CHEBOYGAN, Mich. (AP) -- The Mackinaw is a ship without a port. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has refused to allow the soon-to-be-retired U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker to use the state-owned dock at Mackinaw City. The 290-foot vessel is to be decommissioned Saturday. A new icebreaker Mackinaw will take over the older ship's duties and its longtime mooring site in Cheboygan. Officials with the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum Inc. failed to raise the $3.7 million needed to buy property on the Cheboygan River in its home port. They said two weeks ago that they hoped to dock the vessel, at least temporarily, at Mackinaw City for use as a museum. But the DNR's Waterways Commission said last week that the icebreaker could not tie up at Mackinaw City, where major harbor renovations are not scheduled for completion until 2008. "The ship needs a place to go right now, and I mean right now," commission spokesman Bill Boik said. "It is my understanding that the Mackinaw's skipper and some representatives of the local group have visited the various options in the area and none of them are sufficient to hold the ship. "The Mackinaw's crew will only be onboard to move the ship through June -- they'll be leaving for other assignments after that." Without a mooring area, and funds to develop it, the icebreaker could be ordered dismantled for scrap, the Cheboygan Daily Tribune reported Friday. The state would prefer that the Mackinaw stay in Cheboygan after it goes out of service, Cheboygan Mayor James Muschell said. But the museum board lacks not only money but also a permanent plan to moor the ship, he said. "Unfortunately, we have to have a benefactor to meet the time schedule," Muschell said. "I've been looking for a benefactor, but so far I haven't lucked out. ... I know it could be a huge success and really benefit our community. What a shame if it leaves us."